No Newts Is Bad Newts
by MWolfL
Summary: Ned's Newt. Ned sacrifices his life to save Linda, causing Linda to adopt Newton. Then the future brings Linda very unfortunate news, news that cause her and Newton to run away...and find someone unexpected. NedXLinda
1. Things Change and Things Stay the Same

Ned and his generation were now thirteen. Ned had gained more hair as he grew, and had gotten taller. His grandparents died of old age the previous year, which probably makes you wonder what happened to the animals. Well, most of them died of old age as well. Ned's parents took in the rest so that his dad could enjoy non-store-bought food a little while longer.

Doogle was still Ned's best human friend, Anklo was still Ned's other best human friend, and Rusty was still Ned's rival for Linda's affections. In fact Ned's relationship with Linda was the only thing that had changed.

Ned and Linda had gotten even closer over the years, but Ned didn't love Linda the way he did when he was a kid...he loved her more than that. Normally Ned would've considered that impossible, but he couldn't deny it. He had gotten over his stuttering around her but his heart wouldn't stop pounding every time when she was near. In fact it was now pounding harder and faster than it ever had before.

Newton had been getting concerned about that, but didn't express it until one weekend after Ned received another kiss from Linda due to a flower he gave her.

"You really should tell Linda your feelings." Newton said as a stethoscope, listening to Ned's heartbeats. "If your heart pounds any harder it might wear itself out. Not to mention make me deaf." He turned back into his anthro form, hands over where his ears would be if he had them.

"No one said you had to listen to my heartbeats in the first place." Ned pointed out.

"Hey I'm your pet, I'm supposed to be concerned about your welfare." Newton smiled.

"At least you're not over-worried, that would be worse." Ned sighed. "And I can't tell her Newton, if she rejects me it would break my heart. Maybe even literally."

Fortunately by this point Newton had learned all about expressions, so he knew what Ned meant.

"But I can tell that she loves you back, so you have nothing to worry about." Newton protested. "You two are like those true love couples!"

At that he turned into a Shakespearean guy.

"What light thru yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." He said as Romeo.

He then turned into Juliet. A not very attractive Juliet since he still looked like himself.

"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? No seriously, where are you?" Newton-Juliet looked around.

"Wherefore means why in Shakespearean English Newton." Ned was not amused. "And don't you remember the end of that story? They both **die**."

"Oo," Newton turned back into himself awkwardly. "Right, sorry. Uh, lets see, what true love couple had a happy ending...well there are those fairytales."

"You mean with the witches, ogres, giants, and everything else that doesn't exist in real life?" Ned said hintingly.

"They also had talking animals." Newton shrugged.

Ned thought for a few seconds.

"Good point." He had to admit.

"Maybe I can pull another stunt that would lead you two into a kiss or something." Newton suggested.

"Nah, I don't want anything extravagant if I tell her my feelings. I don't want anything simple either, more like somewhere in the middle."

"Romantic dinner or night under the stars?" Newton guessed.

"Too cliché."

"Then I'm stumped." Newton turned into a tree stump.


	2. Unfriendly Field Trip

The following Monday, Ned found out from his teacher that the class was going to go on a wilderness hike this coming Saturday. Ned was excited, after finding out that his allergies actually had to do with his mom's cookies he had been able to enjoy being out in nature more. Now he loved it.

That Saturday morning, Ned secretly brought Newton and some Zippo as well as usual hiking equipment like binoculars. You never know when a six-foot talking newt might come in handy.

The trip started off uneventful, with the teacher talking about various plants and animals. As expected, most of the class wasn't that interested. They were more interested in talking to each other. Ned and Linda were among the exceptions, the only times they talked to each other instead of listening to the teacher were when they talked about a plant or animal. Rusty noticed them talking, though couldn't hear what they were talking about, and once he got his chance he went over to them.

"Say Linda, after this boring trip is over do you want to come back to my place? I have the latest video game and some great movies." Rusty said almost flirtingly.

"Boring? I happen to love this trip. I think nature is wonderful." Linda retorted, not fooled by Rusty's invite.

Rusty was obviously embarrassed, though tried not to show it. Ned in turn tried not to laugh.

"Oh, I, uh, was referring to the teacher's talking." Rusty fibbed. "I think the best way to enjoy nature is silently."

"Not always, talking about it with a good friend is also a great way to enjoy it." Linda replied, taking Ned's hand.

Ned couldn't keep from blushing, and his heart rate increased. Rusty's face grew red too, though it was out of anger.

"Excuse us Rusty, Ned and I would like to enjoy nature in peace." Linda ran off to catch up with the rest of the class, pulling Ned with her.

"So, you love nature huh Linda?" Rusty glared to himself. "Let's see how much you love it after it attacks you. Then when I save you, you'll love me."

Rusty snuck away from the class, and found a large brown bear. He took a big rock and threw it at the bear, causing the bear to angrily chase him. Rusty expected that though, and so had already gotten a head start. He then ducked the bear at the last second, causing the bear to go for the rest of the class instead! The other students screamed with fright!

"Everyone! Climb a tree!" The teacher ordered. "Brown bears can't climb them very well!"

Most of the class managed to find a tree to climb, but Linda and Ned had already ran so far away that they didn't hear their teacher. They continued running until they neared a hill overlooking a raging river.

"I think we lost him." Ned panted.

That's when they heard growling.

"Or maybe not."

"Split up!" Linda said, running off in one direction.

Ned ran in another direction, hiding amongst the trees. He found a hollow dent in the bottom of one tree, and put his backpack in it.

"If the bear comes after me at least you will be safe Newton." Ned said into his backpack.

Newton, a nonverbal newt at the moment, looked at him worriedly. Suddenly they heard a scream!

"Linda!" Ned gasped.

He looked around the tree and saw that Linda was trapped on the hill! The bear was gaining on her fast! Ned quickly ripped a page out of his notebook and wrote something on it. He then stuffed it halfway into his backpack.

"Bye Newton." He said sadly.

The bear was about to strike Linda, but then Ned suddenly pushed her out of the way! The bear hit him instead, and Ned fell off the cliff and into the river! At that moment the bear fell over unconscious.

"NED!" Linda screamed, running to the edge of the hill.

There was no sign of him. Not a single one. Not even a shoe.

Nearly heartbroken, Linda turned around and saw a heroic-looking Rusty standing behind the unconscious bear with a tranquilizer gun. It was easy to see that it was that kind of gun, since the bear had a tranquilizing dart in it's back.

"No need to thank me Linda, your being all right is thanks enough." Rusty gloated. "However if you insist I will accept a kiss-"

"A KISS?" Linda screamed. "You honestly think I would ever kiss you?"

The rest of the class and the teacher, who had caught up by this point, and Rusty were taken aback. None of them had ever heard Linda scream out of anger before.

"And you did not save me Ned did!" Linda continued. "He knocked me out of the way before the bear could hurt me and he fell into the river! I am not all right either, Ned's DEAD!"

Linda fell to her knees crying.

"He's dead..." She sobbed. "He sacrificed himself to save me. Which is more than you'll ever do Rusty! You really live up to your name, you are nothing but a rusted piece of bronze! Ned however was pure gold..."

"No." Doogle sobbed, running over to the edge. "Ned!" He called.

No answer. And still no sign of Ned.

"No...no not Ned." Doogle sobbed.

The rest of the class was also sad, since Ned was one of the nicest boys in the school. Anklo was most sad, though hadn't learned that much English over the years and so couldn't vocalize it properly. Rusty however was glad that his rival was gone, but still too shaken up by Linda's scream and insult to react to it.

"What are we going to tell his parents?" Doogle sniffled. "And what will happen to Newton?"

"We'll tell his parents the truth of course." The teacher said. "I don't know about Newton though...maybe he can be the class pet?"

"No, I'll take him in." Linda decided, just starting to calm down. "It's the least I can do for Ned."

Luckily, having been Ned's friend for so long allowed her to develop a tolerance for Newton and other amphibians. Gradually she even came to like him, though wouldn't go so far as to call him cute.

Linda wandered over to where Ned came from, remembering that he didn't have his backpack on him when he fell into the river. She found his backpack and the note he wrote, so she took the note and opened it. Luckily, she read it to herself instead of reading it out loud:

Linda,

I will be gone by the time you get this. I love you more than life itself. Please take care of Newton for me. Make sure you're alone when you feed him Zippo.

Ned

Linda sobbed again.

"I always knew how you felt about me." Linda said to herself, as if Ned was there with her. "How could I not? I only wish I told you my feelings sooner." She then paused. "Why do I have to be alone when I feed Newton Zippo?"

She just shrugged, and picked up Ned's backpack. As she did Newton peeped his head out. She was a little startled, but quickly recovered.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Ned's more attached to you than Doogle is attached to his dog." She said to Newton; she then noticed his sad eyes. "I guess you know huh?"

Newton nodded, and tears started to form in his eyes. He then started sobbing.

"Oh Newton, I know how you feel. " Linda said empathetically. "I know I can't be as good an owner to you as Ned was but I'll do my best."

Linda then carefully slung one end of Ned's backpack over her shoulder and rejoined the class. The class then returned to the town, after Ned's death even the teacher wasn't willing to finish the hike. Everyone instead just headed home early.

Well, except for Linda. She headed for the Fleming's house instead. She then knocked on the door.

"You're home awfully early Ned-" Mrs. Fleming opened the door only to find a sad Linda standing there. "Linda! My goodness what brings you here? And where is Ned?"

"Ned...Ned isn't coming back." Linda said sadly.

Mrs. Fleming paled.

"Wh-what?" She said. "Why, what happened?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Fleming, he's dead." Tears formed in Linda's eyes. "A bear attacked us and Ned sacrificed himself to save me. He fell into the Unfriendly River and, well, you know about the survival rate for that river."

It was true, that was the whole reason the river had been given a name opposite of the town's. Only a few people had been able to survive the river, most out of sheer luck. One other had happened to be an Olympic swimmer.

Mrs. Fleming paled even more, and went into the living room to sit down before she nearly fainted.

"No," She said. "Not Ned. Not my boy."

Linda left and went to make some tea for Mrs. Fleming. She knew how due to taking care of her mom one day when she was sick.

"Thank you." Mrs. Fleming accepted the tea; she was still too in shock to cry. "You must've been very special for him to sacrifice his life like that."

"I was to him, he was in love with me. Had been since he was a kid." Linda sighed. "I didn't say anything before because, well, we were kids. However I was going to return my feelings sometime this year...I love him too."

Linda sobbed again. Mrs. Fleming set down her tea and hugged Linda. This time, she cried too.

"Listen, I know you'll probably want to keep a lot of things to remember Ned by." Linda said after they calmed down. "But I was wondering if I could keep a few things of his too. Besides Newton, Ned asked me through a note he wrote before he saved me to take care of Newton for him."

"Of course dear, you can take some of his old toys." Mrs. Fleming said. "And Newton's stuff too of course."

Linda went into Ned's room and looked through his toys. This time he had been able to keep them, since he had talked to his mom about not throwing anything of his out without permission. He pointed out that he thought some of her stuff was junky, yet he never threw out any of her junky stuff out of respect for her feelings. Realizing he had a point, and as a thank you for never throwing her stuff out, Mrs. Fleming agreed to leave Ned's room alone when it came to tossing stuff. Linda was surprised to see a Captain Ocelot figure. Mint condition no less.

"I thought most of these were lost." Linda said.

"Oh, he met the actor who played Captain Ocelot when he went to the dump to find his father's version." Mrs. Fleming explained. "If I had known that the toy had belonged to Eric I wouldn't have thrown it out...anyway Eric's toy accidentally broke so the actor gave him his instead."

"You wouldn't have thrown it out if you knew that it belonged to Mr. Fleming?" Linda was surprised to hear this.

"I have a few of my old toys, so I understand childhood nostalgia." Mrs. Fleming explained.

"Oh." Linda then put the toy in her backpack. "I understand why he didn't tell me, most of the kids in our school think that stuff our parents used to enjoy is lame. Not me, I actually liked Captain Ocelot. Not enough to want the figures or anything, but I found the show enjoyable."

Linda continued searching the room and picked a few more toys. She also took Newton's stuff and kept Ned's backpack.


	3. Linda Meets Newton

Later she went home and told her parents the story. They were sympathetic, but said that she would find someone else. Linda just shook her head and went into her room, saying that she wanted to be alone for the rest of evening. Her parents would never understand how strong Ned and Linda's love were for each other.

Linda glanced through Ned's backpack, and noticed that he had doodled hearts and her name over the cover of his notebook. This made her glad that she had kept his backpack.

She then set Newton's bowl down on her side table and put Newton into it. Newton looked sick with grief. Linda decided to give him a little Zippo. After all if his heart couldn't be filled then at least his stomach could. Newton didn't eat at first, until he remembered that Ned wanted Linda to know the truth about him (he read the note after Ned put it into his backpack). So, he ate some and became his six-foot self.

Linda dropped her mouth open, too shocked to scream. Thank goodness.

"Not a word, Ned wouldn't even trust his own parents with this so I doubt he'd trust your parents. No offense." Newton said sadly.

Linda recovered quickly, especially since Newton's calm demeanor made it easy. Easier than when Ned first found out anyway, since Newton was using his morph powers at the time. Finding out that your pet can become six feet tall and talk is one thing, but finding out that your pet can become six feet tall, talk, and morph into various shapes is another.

"Well, this explains some of the weird things that had happened to Ned." Linda remarked.

"Right, most of the dumb stuff he did, like hurting you with the speeches and going into the back of the school bus, was my idea." Newton nodded. "The 'hurting you with speeches' was unintentional, I was just trying to help him impress you."

"That I forgave quickly, but I wish you hadn't made him go into the bus through the back." Linda frowned. "I was so worried about him."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Newton rubbed the back of his head; he then whimpered and started crying. "Oh Ned!" He sobbed; luckily he had enough self-control to not make it loud enough for Linda's parents to hear.

"I know, I miss him so much it hurts." Linda sobbed.

"It's broken my heart." Newton agreed, pulling his skin back so that a broken Valentine's heart popped out like a broken cuckoo clock bird.

Linda did a double-take.

"Oh, yeah, that's the Zippo." Newton shrugged. "And don't worry that wasn't my real heart."

"Oh, okay then." Linda was relieved.

Linda and Newton, due to bonding over their mutual friendship with Ned and their pain from his death, became fast friends.

Oh, and Ned's father Eric? He was shocked when Mrs. Fleming told him what happened, and then became as upset as her.

_Later, in the woods by the river, someone opened his or her eyes and looked around with confusion._

"_Where am I?" The person asked. "And who am I?"_

The weeks went by. Time went slowly for Linda, Newton, Doogle, and Ned's parents, though it seemed to move fast for everyone else. Other people moved on, some even kinda forgot about Ned. Linda, Newton, and Ned's parents obviously couldn't, and Doogle didn't either. Ned had been his best and only human friend, and Doogle knew that no one could replace him. Linda and Doogle became closer because of their loyalty to Ned, since Linda knew she could never find another guy like Ned. Linda and Doogle eventually became like brother and sister: Linda sometimes found Doogle annoying, and Doogle wished Linda would be more tolerant of his quirks, but they still cared about each other.

During this time, Linda found out about Newton's feelings for Buttercup, the newt belonging to the rich heartless kid that Ned once babysat. By heartless I mean he treated Buttercup like a boring toy, he didn't even name her. Newton had been the one who named her.

It turns out that the kid had been so frightened by Buttercup's revenge that his parents decided to leave town. The building had been demolished, since it was custom built for the family and no one else could afford it. Newton missed Buttercup dreadfully, and didn't even know what happened to her.

So far no new building had been built on the site, since the land was expensive and not a lot of people could afford it, so Linda decided to explore the area with Newton. Linda was fourteen now, and still missed Ned dreadfully so she knew how Newton felt about Buttercup.

When they reached the area it was still a bit grassy, though there were patches of mud as well. They walked around, until Linda noticed a pink newt at the edge of a puddle. Newton saw the newt too, and dropped his mouth open big time. It was actually kinda impressive considering he was in his nonverbal form. Linda went over and picked up the newt, and Newton smiled joyfully. It was Buttercup! Buttercup frowned with confusion at first, until she saw Newton and actually recognized him. She then smiled too.

Linda took Buttercup home and gave her some Zippo. She gave Newton some as well.

"It's about time, I thought no one would take me in." Buttercup smiled to Linda gratefully.

"Oh Buttercup, what happened to you?" Newton asked, relieved yet a bit concerned.

"When that kid and his parents moved out he left me there." Buttercup explained. "I guess I really did scare him back when I was taking revenge for the way he treated me. Then when the building was demolished I escaped into the backyard. I had been there ever since."

"I'm so glad you're okay, I often thought about you and wondered if you were okay." Newton smiled.

"At least someone cares about me." Buttercup smiled gratefully. "Speaking of those who care, where's your previous owner? Ned?"

Newton and Linda both looked miserable. Buttercup looked shocked since there were only a few reasons why they would look miserable. They then told her the story, leaving her sad as well.

"Why do the good ones have to go while the bad ones stay alive?" Buttercup sighed sadly; then she looked at Linda and Newton. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken, I know what you meant." Linda shook her head. "Actually I agree with you, I wish it had been Rusty who lost his life instead of Ned. Anyway, Newton loves you a lot, and since I feel the same way for Ned even though he died I'll be more than glad to take you in."

Buttercup hugged her.

"I would love that." She smiled.

She then let Linda go, and hugged Newton. She did love him all this time, she had just been distracted with revenge before.

So Newton and Buttercup were together. Linda wasn't jealous of them though, she was glad. Seeing them together gave her a glimpse of how she and Ned might've turned out, and saddened yet comforted her at the same time. She always knew that she and Ned would've been the most devoted couple ever, but seeing Newton and Buttercup still in love despite probably thinking that they'd never see each other before confirmed it. After all, only the strongest love would prevent you from moving on if you think you'll never see the one you love again.

Time continued to pass. Newton and Buttercup didn't have offspring yet, even though they became mates the year after they reunited. Newton just felt too much grief over Ned's death, even though he'd like to be a father. Buttercup understood, and decided that it would be a good idea to wait until Linda got a place of her own anyway. After all her parents might not appreciate a lot of baby newts around the house... Anyway, one thing remained consistent: on every anniversary of Ned's death, Linda went to the Unfriendly River and tossed a rose in. That way a piece of her love could join Ned year by year until she would be able to join him.


	4. Two Unexpected Events

High school passed, and Linda graduated. Even though she wasn't going to move on she also wasn't going to let her grief completely run her life. So while she vowed never to marry anyone else, she also vowed to make the most of her single life. She decided to devote her life to volunteering and raising money for good causes, only keeping enough of the money to live off of. She moved into a small one-room house at the edge of the suburbs, with only Newton and Buttercup for company.

Then, when she was twenty, her parents called her over for a visit. Since she was so busy they only did that if it was something important.

"Hi mom, dad, what's going on?" Linda asked as she walked through the door of her childhood home.

"Well, the thing is honey, we're very poor at the moment." Mrs. Bliss began. "Your father and I made a few bad choices with stocks and lost a lot of money. It's gotten so bad that we might lose our home and everything we own."

"You two, just like Ned's parents: not good with money." Linda sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"We know, we feel bad about it." Mr. Bliss hung his head shamefully. "Especially since we've had to take drastic measures in order to keep our home."

"What? Work as servants?" Linda guessed.

"No, Rusty came over yesterday asking for your hand in marriage in exchange for helping with our financial troubles." Mrs. Bliss explained; Linda paled. "And we agreed."

"WHAT?" Linda shrieked.

"Linda, we knew you would be upset about this, since you're still devoted to Ned, but we figured that this way not only would we get to keep our home but you could be taken care of and won't need to live in that awful shack anymore." Mr. Bliss said regretfully but insistently.

"But I like living in that shack, I chose to live in that shack!" Linda snapped, losing her temper entirely. "I don't want to be well off or anything, I just want to help others! With Ned dead I will never be well off anyway! How could you do this to me! Losing the money was your fault, not mine, so punish yourselves by being servants for that creep! Don't punish me by marrying him, I'd rather DIE!"

Linda stormed out, slamming the door so hard that the house shook. Mr. and Mrs. Bliss looked at each other awkwardly.

"Well that went a little better than we expected." Mrs. Bliss shrugged.

Mr. Bliss could only nod in agreement.

Linda then burst into the shack and gave Newton and Buttercup Zippo. That's where most of the money went.

"What's wrong Linda?" Newton asked, knowing that she was really upset even though she hadn't said anything; pets are just good like that.

Linda told them everything, and they were appalled.

"You ain't takin' us alive see? Yeah, we won't go down like that." Newton said as James Cagney.

"Oh Newton, Newton, whatever shall we do?" Buttercup said as Scarlett O'Hara.

"Now listen see? We're gonna bust outta this joint. Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll cross the border, change our names. Grow a beard and shave it off."

"Newton, despite the ridiculous statement about the beard since I never will be able to grow one, that is brilliant." Linda smiled.

So that's what they did. That night, they snuck out. They decided to follow the Unfriendly River surprisingly. Or not, considering what they wanted to do: go to a calmer part of the river and say a final farewell to Ned before leaving the country. Before they continued down the river Linda tossed in one more rose, since she wouldn't be there for the anniversary anyway.

Now reaching the calmer part of the river took a night and day. So, imagine their surprise when they reached a bare part of the woods near the river...with a still-wet rose on the riverbank.

"Could that be the rose you tossed?" Newton asked.

"Couldn't be any other rose." Linda shrugged.

Then, imagine their shock when a brown-haired, blue-eyed man went towards the river and picked up the rose with confusion.

"Weird, it's come earlier than usual." He said to himself.

Linda and Newton dropped their mouths open, speechless. When they recovered they noticed that the man was wearing pants made out of woven vines. No shoes or shirt, though he didn't seem to need them. That area of the woods was well shaded, making sun protection methods almost unnecessary.

Now, even though the man's voice was deep, it was still familiar. That, with the blue eyes and brown hair, made Linda and Newton think of only one person. Ned.

They walked out of the woods, startling the man. Buttercup stayed behind, deciding to leave them alone for now.

"Who...who are you?" The man looked nervous, and maybe even a little scared.

"Ned? Is that you?" Linda said hopefully but fearfully.

The man frowned with confusion.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." He said.

"It's me, Linda."

Now the man frowned as if that sounded familiar. He also realized that his heart started beating rapidly.

"You must have amnesia." Linda realized.

"I'll handle this." Newton said. "Seeing my morphs might snap him out of it."

He then turned to the man.

"Ned, buddy, remember me? Your old pet and best friend Newton?" Newton tried; the man just looked at him blankly. "Well maybe you remember when you first got me."

Newton multiplied in two and turned into both kid Ned and the man who sold him Newton.

"Or maybe you remember when I threw a boulder instead of a pebble at Linda's house."

He turned into a boulder and window, and the boulder crashed through the window.

"Or how about when we performed crazy stunts to stop your cousin Renfrew from tattling on you constantly?"

Newton imitated the stunts, being both Ned and Newton. Good thing he can multiply himself or that would've been really difficult.

The man's eyes started to widen.

"Oh, and there was the time I helped you dance your way into being king of the school dance so that you could dance with Linda. Wound up too tired at the end, but at least Rusty didn't win."

Newton turned into 'giant dancing Ned' and danced.

"Well that explains why Ned never danced like that again." Linda remarked.

"Oh, and then there was the time we went to Mars to get tomato paste for your mom, though it tasted awful."

"Mars is made of tomato paste?" Linda was surprised, preventing Newton from morphing.

"Yeah. Oh, and then when we were accidentally separated due to that Snapperware party thing. Then we were able to meet at the statue of Gus Gingrich."

He turned into the very statue, and then turned back. There was no response from the man, though Newton and Linda didn't see that tears started to form in his eyes.

"Maybe he's not Ned-" Newton was cut off by the man hugging him!

"Newton!" The man said joyfully. "I can't believe it's you!"

It was Ned!

"I can't believe you're alive!" Newton sobbed happily. "We all thought you were dead!"

"No, just suffered from amnesia." Ned then turned to Linda, and a mixture of emotions flowed within him. "Linda..."

Linda hugged him, also sobbing joyfully.

"Oh Linda, I knew my heart felt hollow all these years but due to my amnesia I didn't know why." Ned sobbed a little. "Now I know. It was because you weren't here with me. Linda, I love you so much. I love you more than life itself. Deep down in my heart I missed you."

"I missed you too, without you I didn't have a reason to live." Linda sobbed back. "The only thing that kept me going was my promise to you to take care of Newton. I love you too Ned, I have ever since we were kids."

"You have? Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I wanted to wait until we were a little older before dating. Actually, I was going to tell you my real feelings back when we were thirteen, but that obviously didn't work out."

"Well, as long as you love me and we stay together it doesn't matter. The past is the past."

"Say Ned, what have you been doing all these years?" Newton asked.

"Living with the bears, a mama bear took care of me until I learned what berries were good to eat and how to fish. They still had to get honey for me though since I don't have fur to protect me from bee stings." Ned explained. "Here, I'll take you to our den. I have to get something anyway."

Ned led Linda, Newton, and Buttercup to the den. Along the way Ned and Buttercup talked. Ned was glad that Buttercup had been found and was safe - not to mention Newton's mate - and Buttercup was glad that Ned was alive. She always believed that he was one of the best owners in the world.

When they reached the den there was no one there except for a mother bear and her cubs. The other bears were out gathering food. Because Linda, Newton, and Buttercup were with Ned the mother bear didn't growl or anything, though she did look at them warily. Ned went over to a hollow place in the rock and pulled out a bouquet of dried roses!

"Every year, around the time I fell into the river, I would find a rose lying where I was when I woke up." Ned explained. "I felt some sort of connection to the roses, so I dried and saved them all. You were the one who tossed the roses into the river, weren't you Linda?"

"Yes, back when I thought you were dead I decided to send you part of my love since I couldn't be with you in person." Linda smiled.

Ned smiled, and then went over to the mother bear. He said something to her in bear language, hugged her, and then got up and went back to Linda, Newton, and Buttercup.

"That's my sister, so to speak." Ned explained. "I just told her what was going on. She understands, and is glad that I'm going back to my real family."

"You can speak bear?" Buttercup was surprised.

"I learned while I was living with them. I also spoke to myself a lot so that I wouldn't forget how to speak human." Ned nodded. "Speaking human was one of the few things I remembered, along with how many days there are in a year."

He pointed to the wall as he said that, and looking closer his friends could see tiny marks on the wall. Loads of tiny marks. Obviously this was how Ned kept track of the years, though his friends had a feeling that he started from when he appeared on the bank of the river instead of in January.

Ned and his friends then headed back to Friendly Falls. Along the way Linda explained to Ned why they had been in the woods in the first place. Ned was shocked, but touched that Linda loved him enough to run away from the marriage even if it meant never seeing her parents again. Since Ned was back Linda decided to risk confrontation to bring Ned back to his parents.

"Wait, before we reach Friendly Falls there's something I have to take care of." Linda realized.

Ned, Newton, and Buttercup stopped, confused.

"Ned, ever since we were kids I knew that we were meant to be together, and that 'back entrance of the school bus' incident confirmed it." Linda began before joking: "I'm still mad at you for that by the way, I was really worried about you."

Ned smirked, and Newton and Buttercup chuckled. Buttercup knew what Linda meant because Newton told her of all his adventures with Ned.

"Anyway, after you died, or so Newton and I thought, I realized that you were more than my soulmate. You're my true love Ned, you're the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with." Linda continued, becoming serious again; she took Ned's hands in her own. "So, after you catch up with your parents, please marry me Ned. I don't even care what kind of wedding we have. The sooner we become husband and wife the happier I'll be. I never want to be separated from you again. I'll even go so far as to say that-" Here she blushed. "That I want to have your children."

Ned blushed, but it was out of happiness. He was too touched by Linda's proposal to be embarrassed by the thought of having children. Newton and Buttercup didn't react to the children thing either, they were too busy sobbing with joy.

"Linda, marrying you will be even better than going to heaven." Ned smiled. "I never want to be separated from you either, and as for our children, well, I'll bet they'll be as good and kind as you."

"I'll bet they'll have your common sense and fairness." Linda smiled back.

They kissed on it. They also became overwhelmed with the amount of true love they felt for each other. After the kiss, they realized what people meant when they said that someone was lovesick. For that was definitely how they felt: lovesick.


	5. Everything Works Out

They continued on to Friendly Falls, and when they reached the edge of town Newton and Buttercup turned back into nonverbal newts. Linda and Ned picked them up and continued on to the Flemings' house. Linda went to the door first and rang the doorbell.

Mrs. Fleming, or Sharon, opened the door. It was obvious that Ned's death took it's toll on her, since she looked pretty old for her age. Ned's dad Eric soon showed up as well.

"Linda, what are you doing here?" Sharon was surprised.

"Yes, we heard a rumor that you were engaged to Rusty." Eric agreed.

"It was no rumor, my parents arranged it because they have financial troubles." Linda explained. "But that's not why I'm here. I have unbelievable news: it turns out I was wrong about Ned's death."

Sharon and Eric paled.

"I ran away after finding out about the engagement, and during my trip I found Ned suffering from amnesia. I restored his memory, and we confessed our love for each other. I then brought him back."

A.N. Eric and Sharon still didn't know about Newton, and Ned decided to keep it that way.

Linda then moved away from the door a little, revealing Ned.

"Mom, dad." Ned didn't know whether to cheer or cry.

"Ned..." Sharon and Eric couldn't believe it, but there was no doubt that this man was Ned.

Ned, Sharon, and Eric immediately hugged, sobbing with joy. Eric and Sharon then invited Linda inside. Linda followed the Flemings into their home, and Ned told his parents how he survived in the woods all these years. Linda and Ned then revealed that Linda had proposed to Ned, and Ned accepted. Eric and Sharon were so happy, and agreed to the marriage. After all Linda had not accepted her engagement to Rusty so it did not count.

What they didn't know though, was that Rusty had been walking to Linda's parents' house when he saw her return with Ned. He didn't know it was Ned at first, but the man had looked so familiar that he assumed it. And then when Linda and Ned looked at each other lovingly before going towards the Flemings' house, well, that confirmed it. Furious, he ran back home to get something.

Later, Ned and Linda decided that only Ned's parents should come to the wedding, since Linda's parents might try to stop it. Key word was 'might', there was still a chance that they would allow the marriage, but neither Ned nor Linda wanted to take that chance.

Ned also got dressed in his dad's clothes, since he now felt awkward wearing only vine-pants. His dad's clothes didn't exactly fit, but they were good enough for a trip downtown to get him some clothes of his own.

Hours later Ned and Linda left, since Ned had decided to also look for a career so that he could support them after they got married. But, Rusty had come back around this point, and instantly pulled Linda aside while aiming a gun at Ned's chest!

"So Fleming, you're back." Rusty glared.

"Yeah, I'm back." Ned glared back, though he was understandably scared of the gun. "Linda found me and our love for each other cured my amnesia."

"Well you won't stay back, Linda is mine and I will do anything to keep it that way." Rusty moved his gun a little closer to Ned.

"Even commit murder? You'll get arrested for it." Ned pointed out.

"As long as Linda's my wife I don't care." Rusty replied coldly.

"You should care about this: nothing will ever make me love you, and as long as I don't love you I will never be your real wife. I'll never be your wife at all." Linda glared to Rusty.

"Yes you will, even if I have to hold you at gunpoint at the altar." Rusty retorted.

"Rusty, if you kill Ned then you might as well kill me too. If you hold me at gunpoint at the altar, I'll just go ahead and say no and let you shoot me. I despise you with all my heart and soul Rusty McCabbe."

This caught Rusty off guard, causing him to lower the gun a little. Newton, who was in the pocket of Ned's temporary shirt, saw his chance. He leapt out of the pocket and bit Rusty on the nose! Rusty, really caught off guard now, cried out with both pain and shock and ended up shooting the sidewalk.

"Get this thing off me!" Rusty yelled, about to pry Newton off his nose.

Ned beat him to it, and grabbed Rusty's gun as well. He didn't aim the gun at Rusty though, instead he merely opened it, released the bullets, and tossed the gun aside.

"You're going to pay for that Fleming." Rusty almost growled. "I'll get you and your little newt too!"

"I don't think so!"

Startled, Rusty turned around and saw a cop. Then, to his embarrassment, Rusty saw that there was a crowd of people along the block. Now defeated, Rusty let the cop handcuff him and lead him away. He still gave Ned a death glare though.

After that, the crowd found out that the man that Rusty was going to shoot was Ned Fleming. They couldn't believe that he was alive, but Linda told them that she'll tell the press the story later. As for now, they had some business to take care of.

Ned was able to get some new clothes, using his parents card, but found it hard to get a job. Finally, he decided that he and Linda should move out into the country and own a farm. If nothing else that would support them food-wise.

During their trip downtown, they ran into Doogle and Anklo. Ned was overjoyed to see his best human friends again, and Doogle and Anklo couldn't believe that Ned was alive. Ned, Anklo and Doogle ended up spending a week catching up. Linda and Ned's parents took that week to prepare for the wedding. Ned then spent another week hanging out with his parents. Doogle and Anklo spent a day of that week each getting a tux for the wedding.

Ned's parents entirely paid for the wedding, which was doable since it was a small wedding. Just Ned's small family, Linda's parents, Anklo and his family, and Doogle and his family. Linda's parents completely agreed to the wedding, even though it wouldn't help them financially. As long as their daughter was happy they were okay with it, since they always did care about their daughter. They just had to wise up to the fact that money doesn't buy happiness.

Doogle was the best man, and Newton and Buttercup were Ned's boutonnière. Though I don't think it could be called that in this case, since they were in Ned's pocket instead of a buttonhole. A pocket-tière maybe?

There was no honeymoon after the wedding, Ned and Linda didn't need a grand trip to celebrate their new life together. All they needed was each other. Besides, they would have to leave Newton and Buttercup behind and they didn't want to do that.

Instead, they found an inexpensive farm near Friendly Falls and fixed up the place. There were four bedrooms in the farmhouse, which worked out nicely. One was of course for Ned and Linda, while another would be for Newton and Buttercup. The remaining two were for future children, so they had only been fixed up, no paint or decorations.

Linda and Ned's room was simple, though did have all their childhood toys. Ned picked up all his old toys from his parents after the farmhouse got fixed up. Other than that the room had the usual furniture, and family photos on the dresser. For decoration there was a painting of a bear family hanging on the wall that was to the left of the bed. Oh, and a bookcase full of comics and their old childhood books.

Newton and Buttercup's room was a little more decorated. There was a bed for them when they were anthros, a large bowl for when they were nonverbal newts, and a special tank for their future little ones. Now that Ned was back Newton was ready to be a father, and Buttercup couldn't wait for them to be parents. Other than that there was a bookcase full of the great literature works.

Newton and Buttercup did have little ones, though I'm not going to tell you all their names because that would be a really long list... The oldest male and oldest female were named after Ned and Linda though.

Ned and Linda also had two kids of their own, a boy named Dave and then a girl named Celia respectively. Dave and Celia took after their parents, which was a good thing. They also adopted some of Newton and Buttercup's children as their own pets later on. Working together, Dave, Celia, and their pets took over Ned and Newton's role of making sure that problems were solved in the town.


End file.
